Landowners’ counsel in Virginia often use a tactic called the “unity of lands doctrine” to try to inflate damage claims, but a recent decision from the Virginia Beach Circuit Court shows a way to defeat this common tactic. In City of Va. Beach v. Sweigart, Case No. 18005649-00, the project called for a utility easement [...]
Condemning authorities have long taken the position that the federal Uniform Relocation Act--and by extension the Virginia Relocation Act—confer no private right of action on behalf of a displaced person. In other words, a business or citizen cannot sue the agency directly for relocation benefits if the displacee claims they are insufficient or have been [...]
The 14th Annual Virginia Eminent Domain CLE, amusingly now sub-titled "Planning for Virginia's Future," will be held at the same venue again this year as it has for the last several years, the Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia, April 30 - May 1, 2020. We expect the usual potpourri of interesting topics in takings, relocation, [...]
The United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia excluded a landowner’s witness who had been designated to testify about the probability of gas pipeline explosions. See Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC v. 0.07 Acre, More or Less, in Nelson County, Virginia, et al., Case No.: 3:18-cv-00006 (E.D.Va. June 19th, 2019). The court also [...]
Most people in the Virginia eminent domain bar already know that the statewide eminent domain CLE is held at the Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia, each year. The conference will be held at the same absolutely beautiful venue again for this year, May 2-3, 2019. We expect the usual potpourri of interesting topics in takings, [...]
A recent decision could eventually have big implications for gas companies in eminent domain proceedings, at least in states within the Fourth Circuit. On February 5, 2019, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Mt. Valley Pipeline, LLC v. 6.56 Acres,[1] rebuffing a concerted attempt by numerous landowner counsel to attack the [...]
People think I am pulling their leg when I tell them that in our fine state, a landowner’s friends and business associates may be selected to hear the landowner’s condemnation case and award just compensation. In a Virginia condemnation case a landowner has three options to determine his just compensation: a bench trial, a jury [...]
Do you think the lease of the tenant you are dealing with is for the number of years it says in their lease? It may not be, depending on if the lease contains the appropriate seal or “seal substitute.” The Virginia Supreme Court’s interpretation of an obscure Virginia statute, the Statute of Conveyances, has the [...]
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found last month that the Uniform Relocation Act does not create a private cause of action against the displacing agency. In Osher v. City of St. Louis, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25277, 2018 WL 4231794 (8th Cir. September 6th, 2018), the Eighth Circuit indicated that “Insofar as [the Eighth [...]
Perhaps the most common question any lawyer is asked upon meeting a new acquaintance is “so what sort of law do you practice?” This, and good marketing practices, means I think semi-regularly about my elevator pitch – how to describe what we do in a quick, positive, and engaging way, that conveys the feeling [...]